Austrians' zeal for native son Schwarzenegger fades [View All]

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/05/MNGUL6FVHG1.DTL

Austrians' zeal for native son Schwarzenegger fades
Outrage at support for death penalty, remark on Holocaust

Eric Geiger, Chronicle Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Salzburg, Austria -- The man once proudly referred to as "our Arnie" has virtually become persona non grata in his own country after a wave of nationwide euphoria over native son Arnold Schwarzenegger's election as governor of California.

The mood change was largely prompted by Schwarzenegger's refusal in February to pardon a convicted murderer on death row and, to some extent, by his unwillingness to invite an official Austrian delegation to his inauguration last November. For most Austrians, the delegation's presence would have symbolized Schwarzenegger's dual citizenship and his ties to his native land.

But for many Austrians, the last straw was the governor's criticism in Israel Sunday of Austria's Nazi past, including a statement that attempted to atone for World War II-era atrocities committed against Jews by Austrians, during the dedication of a planned museum of tolerance in Jerusalem.

"I was born in Austria, which is a beautiful country ... but a place where intolerance and ignorance led to terrible atrocities," Schwarzenegger told a gathering of Israel's top politicians and American Jewish leaders who financed and planned the museum. "Because of that, I want to do whatever I can to promote tolerance around the world."

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